Latest news with #Quillinan
Irish Daily Mirror
06-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Emotional Kerry manager fights back tears after All-Ireland final defeat
An emotional Wayne Quillinan told of how proud he was of his players after Kerry's All-Ireland Minor Football Championship final defeat to Tyrone. The Red Hands beat the Kingdom by a single point in Newbridge on Sunday after an enthralling game of football that could have gone either way. Kerry led by 1-8 to 0-7 at half-time, but Tyrone, who were without star forward Joel Kerr following his move to West Ham, battled back against the wind in the second half, with Kerr's replacement in the starting XV, Diarmuid Martin, scoring the winning point in added time. Quillinan was visibly emotional as he spoke to TG4 immediately after the full-time whistle and paid tribute to his players. He said: "We always talk about the game, its margins, tiniest of margins. Unfortunately, we suffered on the wrong side of it today. "I just have to say, those lads that we have, those minors, were absolutely unbelievable today. "Those Kerry Minors this year have given us so much, they've given the county so much, they've given it a lift. Hearing the crowd today and seeing the seniors in Croke Park, for me, it's what our county is about. "As Kerry people, we've just got to realise that we're stronger together. We're stronger together. Hopefully, our seniors can do the job next Saturday. "Just at the minute, it's a desperate one to take. I'm not talking about myself, it's just when I think of the players, when I think of their families and their clubs and the whole journey they've been on." "It's at an end now and it's my job to go to that dressing room and tell them how proud we are of them, the standards they've kept all year. "Our county can only just get better when we have not just great players, but great young fellas coming through the whole time." Quillinan added: "Our lads are made of the right stuff. I think they've proved it time and time again this year against Cavan, they've proved it against Mayo, they've proved it again today, they've proved that they're made of the right stuff. And if you're made of the right stuff, Kerry will look after you."
Irish Examiner
04-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Quillinan not buying Tyrone hex, lauds Ulster stuctures
Kerry minor manager Wayne Quillinan doesn't believe in a Tyrone underage hex on the Kingdom, but he does feel Ulster teams have an advantage due to their provincial structures. Quillinan wants his young guns to approach Sunday's MFC final at St Conleth's Park (1:30pm) like any other game. 'There's always going to be pressure. There's pressure in club games. There's a bit more magnitude to this, but the way we're approaching it is to just play the game. It's another game. That's what it is. 'The occasion is for supporters, for families, for the public. We're trying to just talk to them, from a mindset thing, that it's another game. It's no different. 'We're not asking much more out of the lads than we would have for the Mayo game, the Cavan game, or all the way along, the five games that we played. We're not asking more, much more, out of them. "Play the game that you've played all along, and try and just focus on what you need to do, your role within the team, and the job you're doing for the team. 'If you can focus on that role, and just play the game, because they'll always be nervous. I mean David Clifford was going out in Croke Park, and I'm sure he was going to be nervous. 'So we try and play it down, as much as you possibly can, and manage it as much as you possibly can. Try and get their energy to the spaces and the areas where they know and they're familiar with, rather than going into spaces where they're unfamiliar with.' Asked about the indian sign Tyrone have had over Kerry at minor and U20 level over the past four or five years, Quillinan maintains that Kerry are disadvantaged by the system. 'Number one is I rate Tyrone extremely highly. They've been favourites to win the All-Ireland since day one. This whole thing with the northern teams and stuff, I don't buy into it at all. You got to look at it at minor level, and I'm just going to go with minor level, it's run the right way in my eyes. "They're going in now to their 13th competitive game. We're going into our sixth game. So that amount of preparation — you're talking about nerves in championship games — they're way more adapted to playing championship games than we are. "Now I'm not saying anything about it, that's just the way it is, we can't control that, and we just have to manage that.' He likes the Ulster system 'It's just run in a really good way that there are opportunities given to their players, to be together, to get that championship feel. But there's also the development side of things. "I have probably 10 guys there that haven't played championship football, because we have just six games to play. If we played for two years, we'd have the same amount of games as Tyrone would play." It also affords Kerry plenty of opportunity to study their opposition, but that will be just a small part of the pre-match prep. "My whole focus is 90% of what we do is going to be about ourselves. "Obviously, you have to tactically delve into Tyrone and the way they play and matchups and all that, but that'll be 10% to 15% of our work. The rest is simply getting better at what we need to do, compacting the middle, breaks around the middle, and all that kind of stuff. "That's our message to the lads. It's just another game. We're simply asking you to get 10% better than we were against Mayo in key areas. I think we don't look at the outcome. We don't look at the winning or losing. We kind of look at the process.'
Irish Examiner
17-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
'Express yourself': Quillinan keen for Kerry starlets play game the right way
Kerry manager Wayne Quillinan will be hoping to make up for last year's one-point loss to the eventual champions Derry when his charges face Mayo in the All-Ireland MFC semi-final in Ennis on Sunday next. Mayo also reached the semi-finals last term but lost to Armagh by seven points. Given the age grade dropped down a year, there are only a couple of survivors on each squad for the 2025 version. Quillinan reports that the Kingdom has no serious injury worries. 'We haven't named the 24, but we had a few knocks and niggles after the Cavan game. But we're hoping, we're training tomorrow night, and we're hoping we'll have a full bill of health to train tomorrow night.' Kerry were forced to hang on in the final 10 minutes of their one point quarter-final win over a gutsy Cavan side. Quillinan was unhappy with their poor first half performance but saw lots of positives when they weathered the storm late on. 'Now with the power of hindsight and seeing the game four or five times again, we actually played particularly well in the first half, but our shot selection was very poor we had 11 wides. So we weren't executing well. They scored one point from play in the first half. Everything else was frees, silly frees that we shouldn't have given away, and they got a two pointer towards the end,' he said. 'And in the second half, up to the 22nd minute of the second half, they had only one goal scored and I thought we were controlled. I thought we were composed with it. 'And then where the learning comes in is the final 10 minutes where, particularly on breaking ball, we just couldn't get our hands on breaking ball. It wasn't even down to us coughing up easy possession. We just couldn't get our hands on the ball. And that's credit to Cavan. "Their lives were at stake. They went for it. But I did feel and you know me, I'm a positive person. I did feel that our defense stood up really well. There was a storm. This is the way I've addressed it with the lads is there was a storm there. We were prepared for it, and we rode it.' The interesting thing about Mayo is they've had seven games: They have lost three times already so far this year, twice to Roscommon and once to Galway; They've conceded 14 goals in those seven games. 'I just like at minor level where a team goes out and expresses themselves and try to play the game in the right way, and that's what Mayo do. And that's what we're doing with our minors; trying to get out, don't restrict yourself. Get out, just express yourself, they're young fellas. Go out and express yourself. Play the game the way the game is supposed to be played.' Quillinan continued: 'But your main message to your players, and I think Mayo are the same, is going out and just express yourself. And just leave it all on the field. Make sure you have the right energy. Make sure you have the right intensity. Make sure you have the right intent. "And if you have that, I just feel you'll be there and thereabouts at the end of the game. And if you don't get over the line, at least you can say to yourself, you know what, I went out and I expressed myself. I worked as hard as I could in that Kerry jersey. "I gave it everything I have, and I can look myself in the mirror and say, you know what, I gave it everything. And some days you're just beaten by a better team.' Has Qullinan got a plan to deal with the threat posed by Mayo? 'We have. That's the entire concept. Obviously you have your overall plan, and then you have to have your matchups with that. You mentioned Adam Kelly there in midfield; I think he's the best fielder that I've seen at minor level this year. He's got a superb pair of hands. And in fairness to Mayo, and this isn't discrediting Roscommon, but they lost in the Connacht final. "They lost two of their midfielders during the game, but he's been excellent. And I just think you have Conor Jordan on one side, you've Patrick Garvey on the other, and then you have four scoring forwards. You have two working forwards and four really good scoring forwards that we'll have to pay a lot of attention to. "We've done our homework. No more so than they've done their homework on us, and I'm really expecting a real good battle because it's going to be a fifty fifty and I think the tiniest of margins will dictate the game. And that's why I'm smiling. You can't help but get excited for games like that.'
Irish Examiner
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Kerry name team to face Cork in Minor Football Championship opener
Kerry manager Wayne Quillinan has named his team to take on Cork in their opening game of the Minor Football Championship. The Kingdom travel to Páirc Uí Rinn on Monday night (throw-in is at 7pm) for an important Electric Ireland Munster MFC quarter-final, although both teams will advance to the last four regardless of the result. Quillinan, who is set for his third year in charge of the Kerry minors, will be looking to make a bright start to the season against a Cork team that will be led by the experienced Keith Ricken following his appointment recently. Kerry (v Cork): R Kennedy; R Sheridan, E Joy, T Ó Slatara; D Murphy, D Sargent, M Clifford; M Ó Sé, J Curtin; M O'Carroll, G White, K Griffin; N Lacey, B Kelliher, T O'Connell. Subs: S Sargent, D McCarthy, L O'Brien, P Ó Mainnín, J Kissane, T O'Sullivan, C McGibney, A Tuohy, M O'Sullivan.
